BIG SCREEN DREAMS

West Ashley filmmaker creates buzz at Charleston Film Festival with Cold Soldiers

By Lorne Chambers
Editor

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West Ashley's own Nick Smith is a man of many talents. The BBC-trained, British-born Smith has worked as a crewmember on a diverse range of movies. He made award-winning documentaries and ran The Film School Scotland before moving to West Ashley in 2003. Smith is also a bestselling author and he wrote the screenplay, directed and co-produced his latest artistic endeavor, a film entitled Cold Soldiers, which will make its big screen debut this week at the Charleston Film Festival, held at the Terrace Theatre on Maybank Highway. The first screening of the film at 7:30 p.m. has already sold out, so a second was added immediately following at 9:45 p.m.

Smith is not the only West Ashley tie to Cold Soldiers, his co-producer/editor Trevor Erickson also calls West Ashley home. In fact, part of Cold Soldiers were filmed right here in West Ashley on Rebellion Road.

Cold Soldiers is about a group of highly-trained spies and soldiers who recovering from mental breakdowns at the Kershaw Institute. However, this place of healing is soon in for a surprise of battlefield proportions.

West Of had an opportunity to chat with Smith last week about the film. Here is part of that conversation:

WEST OF: Congratulations on the film. This seems like a tremendous production. Can you believe that it's all done and ready for viewing?
NICK SMITH: Shooting took longer than we expected, because we often stopped for days or weeks at a time to rehearse the fight scenes for our action movie. Editing was also a painstaking process, with digital effects and complex layers of sound to add. There were a few times when we could have said 'it's good enough' and released it, but we went back and found ways to improve it. Now we feel like it's ready.

WO: Are you happy with the final product?
NS: I'm happy because it's a fun film to watch. If I can get a buzz out of it after knowing the story and watching the footage a hundred times, I'm confident that audiences will like it too.

WO: Had you written Cold Soldiers with the intent of making it into a film?
NS: Yes, I wrote it with our local resources in mind. Some of the characters were written for specific actors, and I had some gritty Charleston locations in mind too. Most of all, I was responding to what my cast and crew wanted to film. In particular, it gives Trevor Erickson the chance to demonstrate his martial arts and fight choreography skills.

WO: What's more rewarding completing a novel or a movie?
NS: A movie, because it's so much more collaborative than a novel. With Cold Soldiers, 300 people have achieved a goal of helping to make a film. Not just one guy writing a book.

WO: What is your favorite part of filmmaking?
NS: I'm very comfortable working as a DP (director of photography). Using a camera comes naturally to me. I get a lot of praise for the images I capture, which is always a nice surprise for me. But the whole process is connected, and I'm getting better at taking the images I "see" when I'm writing the script, then translating that to film.

WO: How do you think it will be received at the Film Festival? Why?
NS: I think it will be an enjoyable experience for people, not least because of the familiar faces and locations in the film. I've always felt that this community is supportive - I wouldn't be making movies here otherwise. I'm very interested to learn how audiences outside of Charleston respond to it, where they won't recognize local actors and landmarks. We are entering various film festivals this year to find out.

WO: What's next?
NS: I'm editing a horror movie called Eight Graves, directed by Gus Smythe. I was also the writer, DP and producer. It will be released later this year.

WO: Anything else?
NS: I have a new book out called "Eat Happy." I wrote and illustrated it, and it was handscreen printed and bound by John Pundt. It's short and sweet, totally different tone in from Cold Soldiers.